Category Archives: appraisal

How do I find an Equipment Appraisal Service?

Before you buy a used item you want to be sure about the price of the item that is being quoted by the seller. You just can’t pay any price for an item that is not even new. So how do you come to the point where you know the approximate price of the item? Well it is the appraisal company who does an appraisal on the item where they go through a lot of things in order to ensure that the price of the item that they appraise is correct. For every high priced item that has a sales value, we need an appraisal to be done on that commodity. Real estate is one such commodity. Before you sell a property it needs to be appraised.

It is the law that each one has to follow. Simultaneously when it comes to heavy equipment you need to get the appraisal done and once the appraisal agent determines an approximate price of the item, the seller needs to quote a price that revolves around the appraised price and sellers prefer to keep the price of the machine mostly below the appraised price. So the crux for the seller of heavy equipment is to locate an appraisal service agent who appraises the value of heavy equipment. In other words, you can’t go to an appraiser who is into appraising the value of real estate and ask him to do an appraisal of your construction machines.

Check on internet:-

To find an appraisal agent is not at all a tough job in today’s time. All you need to do is log into your internet and key in what you are looking for. You will be flooded with alternatives and then you got to pick the best alternative. There you have to do a bit of research. You need to check each websites individually and understand which appraisal service will be the best for you. You can check the reviews left by people who have used their services. This could be really helpful for you to take a decision. People believe in sharing their experiences on the net and whatever may be their experience they will put it out there for everyone to see. Go through the reviews carefully and apply your rationale to take a decision. You should go through maximum 5 appraisal companies reviews and try to take a call from that. Too many alternatives can also confuse you and your decision making ability can go for a toss.

Check with someone in your business circle:-

If you do not find a good appraiser on the internet and if your are the person who believes to follow more “word of mouth” then the best option is to check with guys in your business circle. We all buy and sell heavy equipment and before we sell any we need to get that appraised. All you have to do is check with someone who has recently sold heavy equipment. Once you know that you can easily know the name of the appraisal company. You can also know the person’s experience with the Appraisal Company which will help you to take a call.

Make your heavy equipment worth for resale

Many believe that heavy equipment has a good resale value but it mainly depends upon how you have used your equipment over the years. Ideally, heavy equipment is a long lasting thing and it does not require care round the clock. On the contrary, if proper maintenance and servicing is done at regular intervals then it will certainly last for years without any problem to its owner. Nevertheless, knowing the nature of the machine, many owners tend to use it in extreme rough conditions without even bothering to service it. Now that takes the toll on the machine and from there it starts giving problems. The owner needs to understand that if he wants the equipment to work properly then he also needs to take some effort in getting it serviced on a regular basis.

It may be simple to get a resale value for the heavy equipment but it is also important to keep your machine worthy to get a good resale value. If you want to list your item for sale you have to describe it well in the advertisement and must mention if there are any defects or issues with the machine. You should not skip that part and move to the next. The prospects would like to know more about the item before they make the decision to buy it. In case, if your machine is not up to the mark then you may not write good about it and that will deter prospective buyers to move away to the next listing listed by another seller. Though you are getting the viewership, it is not ultimately helping you to close the sale and it is all happening because you have not taken good care of your machine.

Employ a qualified operator:-

It makes more sense to pay more and hire a qualified operator who has good amount of experience under his belt and who can understand the machine better than anyone else can. Hiring a newbie may not be very beneficial to you in the long run as they may learn to drive the equipment and get the work out of it but will not understand if there is anything wrong in the machine and will only report it to you when it completely gives up. Hiring a newbie may cost you less as compared to an experienced one but down the line you will get to know the difference. Therefore, it is better to be cautious and spend a bit more rather than being sorry.

Give it to a mechanic once in every 2 months:-

Your machine may not need any maintenance work every day or every month but you should make it a point that you get it checked by an expert mechanic at least once in every 2 months. That will only help in increasing the longevity of the machine and when you feel that you want to upgrade it by selling the old one, you can expect a good price for it.

Heavy Equipment appraisal – What is it important to appraise your heavy equipment?

A construction company has to spend a good sum of money to buy heavy equipment and when it comes to sell the machine, they just can’t afford to sell in scrap value. They will certainly want a good sales value for the item. However, the most important question is how can one come to the conclusion and determine the price of the machine after that being used for let’s say a couple of years. It will be very difficult to decide the correct price of the machine after all the wear and tear it has to undergo, completing projects after projects.

Let us begin this with a scenario. For instance, you advertise for selling equipment on an online auction site and have stated that you have used the machine for 4 years and it is in good order.  Due to some reason, you do not see anybody bidding on your item. You try to look for bidders bidding for the same machine posted by other seller and you find that they are placing successful bids. It rattles your mind pondering why anybody isn’t bidding on your item. To your astonishment, you find out that the starting price that you have placed on the equipment is way high than other sellers. Well, in this entire scenario, you as a seller were doing one terrible mistake. You never bothered to find out the correct price of the item and wanted the starting price of the auction that was not acceptable to buyers.

This one big mistake of yours takes the entire listing for a toss and you make nothing. What you could have done to avoid such a situation is appointing an appraiser who would appraise the price of the item and could inform you the correct price of the item after depreciating its price. It is quite obvious that you can’t put the same price that you paid to buy the equipment and have to depreciate its price for the wear and tear it undergoes to complete your projects.

Other than selling the machine, appraisal of equipment is also done for insurance purposes. You can’t have the insured amount for the equipment same throughout. As years pass, the insured amount decreases. However, if you appraise the equipment, the appraiser will check the equipment and will pass a certificate indicating the correct value of the item. Just in case, your equipment undergoes an accident, you can claim the insured amount as per the appraised value.

It is imperative to appraise the equipment from a certified appraiser. You simply can’t approach to anybody who does not hold a valid certificate to appraise your item; it will simply be a waste of time and money. His appraisal will not hold any good and when you’ll be shown the door if you approach the insurance company to settle any claim. There are many companies who do construction equipment appraisals. You may check about these companies from the people involved in your business and get your machine appraised or can even explore the internet to get this done.